Mars and Venus United by Love

Mars and Venus United by Love

X-radiograph

Painting in frame: overall

Painting in frame: corner

Painting in frame: angled corner

Profile drawing of frame. W 9 1/2 in. 24.2 cm (T. Newbery)

Mars and Venus United by Love

Artist:Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (Italian, Verona 1528–1588 Venice)
Date:1570s
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:81 x 63 3/8 in. (205.7 x 161 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1910

In this visually opulent and sensual painting, Cupid binds Mars (the god of war) to Venus with a love knot. It celebrates the civilizing and nurturing effects of love, as milk flows from Venus’s breast and Mars’s warhorse is restrained. By 1621 the painting was owned by Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, along with other mythological works by the artist (two are in the Frick Collection, New York), but its original owner is unknown. A masterpiece of light and color, works such as this had an enduring impact on later artists including Velázquez and Giambattista Tiepolo.

Provenance
Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Prague (until d. 1612; ?invs., 1621, no. 1151; ca. 1648, no. 450); his brother, Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, Prague (1612–d. 1619); his cousin, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Prague (1619–d. 1637); his son, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Prague (1637–48; seized by Swedish troops); Christina, Queen of Sweden, Stockholm, later Rome (1648–d. 1689; abdicated 1654; invs., ?1652, no. 79 or no. 88; ca. 1689, unnumbered); Cardinal Decio Azzolino, Rome (d. 1689); his nephew, marchese Pompeo Azzolino, Rome (1689–96; sold to Odescalchi); principe Livio Odescalchi, duca di Bracciano, Rome (1696–d. 1713); marchese Baldassare Odescalchi-Erba, later principe Odescalchi, Rome (1713–21; inv., 1721, no. 39; sold to Orléans); Philippe II, duc d'Orléans, Palais Royal, Paris (1721–d. 1723); ducs d'Orléans, Palais Royal (1723–85); Louis Philippe Joseph, duc d'Orléans, Palais Royal (1785–92; sold to Walckiers); vicomte Edouard de Walckiers, Brussels (1792; sold to Laborde); his cousin, François de Laborde-Méréville, Paris, later London (1792–98; consigned to Jeremiah Harman; sold to consortium of Bridgewater, Carlisle, and Leveson-Gower); Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, and George Granville Leveson-Gower, later 1st Duke of Sutherland, London (1798; exhibited for sale, the Lyceum, the Strand, London, December 26, 1798ff., no. 273, for 300 gns. to Elwyn); Hastings Elwyn, Booten, Norfolk (1799–1806; his sale, Phillips, London, May 23, 1806, no. 23); Campbell, London (until 1866; sold to Wimborne); Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, 2nd Baronet, later 1st Baron Wimborne, Canford Manor, Wimborne, Dorset (1866–1903; cat., 1888, no. 31; sale, Christie's, London, May 23, 1903, no. 75, for £6,300); [Lepper]; [Asher Wertheimer, London, 1909–10; sold through Blakeslee to MMA]

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